Improvement in skates



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IIIRAM CLARK, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK.

liVIPROVEMENT IN SKATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,012, dated April 22, 1862-. l

T0 all whom it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, I-IIRAM CLARK, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skates 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andv exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification.

The drawing is a vertical longitudinal central section of the several parts, except the posts p and the runner B.

This invention consists in the employment of bent wooden foot-pieces in skates, whereby said foot-pieces may be made much lighter and at the same time stronger at the front end than is possible when they are curved by cutting away the wood across the grain, as heretofore practiced, and by bending them a great saving of time in making-is effected, besides a large percentage in the use of timber.

I use the varieties of wood commonly employed in the manufacture of skates for the footspieces, A and saw them of a proper length, width, and thickness, after which they are planed smooth on their fiat sides and their edges are trimmed and shaped as desired. Then they are steamed or boiled and bent over forms, which give them any degree of inflection desired. After they are suitably dried they are removed and the holes bored for the screws 'C and D, when they may be smoothed off, which is done on sand er emery belts or wheels. Then they are ready to be varnished. Bending the foot-pieces A, in stead of working them out, besides greatly adding to their strength with a given thick ness and saving time in making them, also effects a saving of from forty to fifty per cent. in the use of timber.

The screws C and D may be made of malleable iron or of brass, with their shanks ZJ hollow, in which the thread is eut to iit the thread on the top of the posts p. The screw C has a shank, s, (extending upward from the heath) which forms the heel-spur of the skate, and by thus making it detachable it may be easily replaced by another in case of any accident whereby it should become bent or broken. The recesses c in the head of the screw C are to receive a forked screw-driver, which is used in putting in or removing them. Said screws C and D have flat cylindrical heads, which are let in flush with the top of the foot-piece, as seen in the drawing; and by having a smooth full bearing-surface and a perfect iitbetween them and the foot-piece the latter is held 'much more firmly in its place than when the posts are continued through the foot-piece, in which latter case there is only a line of bearing (being the edge of the thread) between the said foot-piece and the posts p; and if the foot-piece shrinks after it is pnt into the skate, so as to become loose, it can be tightened by turning the screws C and D without disturbing the external appearance of the parts by the posts not reaching through the said screws C and D, they being closed on the top.

The posts p are made of round iron, the diameter of which corresponds with the opening` through the lower end of the thimbles E, and are cut off to any desired length from long bars. The thread is then cut on one end, and the other is pointed, as shown by the dotted lines at o., by a hollow reamer corresponding in shape to the point ofthe drill, with which the recesses (also shown by the dotted lines a.) are made in the runner B, and into which the foot of the posts p are iirmly fixed by being brazed; and by attaching them in this way I am enabled to use steel for the runners B, of the size which they are desired to finish, there being no hammer marks nor laps to grind out, as is the case when the posts are welded on, as formerly practiced.

The runners B are made from bars of proper size for the runners when finished, there being no forging required, except to taper the front end, after which it is bent over a former to give them a true and uniform curve. The posts p, being less in diameter than the thickness of the ruimer B, are entirely out of the way while grinding and polishing the latter, and by forging and' bending it before the posts are attached it is much more easily done, and in less time than when the posts are previously connected, which is necessary when they are welded on.

The loops F are to receive the straps.

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, is*

The employment in skates of bent (by steaming or boiling) wooden foot-pieces, for the purposes set forth.

HIRAM CLARK.

Titnesses WM. S. LoUGHBoRoUGH, Louis ERNST. 

